Lightening Online

This week’s mission is clear.

Murder as many little green things with purple or white flowers as possible!!!

I even have a spray gun that feels something like a gun (not that I’ve ever actually handled a gun) as I shoot at these blasted weeds!

AND…

The dye in my mix is HOT PINK!!!!

So I am flat out spraying the paddock “Lightening colour”. 

You can see where I’ve been by the hot pink patches all over the paddock.

Time is short and the weeds are winning the fight.

So this week, I’m spending as many hours as I can possibly manage, killing as many weeds as I can possibly manage.

Wish there was a “non chemical” way to deal with them.  But for now, this is the only way we have.

When I close my eyes at night, this is what I see:

I stare at them for hours on end and then when I close my eyes, I can still see them!

I’m the kind of person who likes to plan.

And I like my plans to go to plan!

Which makes me a shocking candidate for farming.

Because nothing on the farm goes to PLAN!

Or so it would seem.

Working around weather conditions, break-downs and unco-operative sheep is enough to put a girl in a REAL bad mood!!!!

This week seems to have been tough.

I tried to help Farmboy with some drafting (the way we sort a mob of sheep into 2 different lots) and got my finger kicked by a sheep. Then my feet were stomped all over.  That was one stubborn mob of sheep.

Then while out spot-spraying weeds, my wand fell apart.  I tried to fix it numerous times but it just wouldn’t stay together.  My plan to get X hours done that day fell in a heap.

Oh well.

Farmboy has now bought me a new wand (and so far it hasn’t fallen apart) and the sheep are off to market in the next few days.

I don’t mind helping out around the farm when things go well.

But I HATE it when things don’t go so well.

And that seems to be altogether too often for my liking!

I honestly don’t get how people do this full time.  It’s SO frustrating!!!!

And yet, somehow I suspect I’ll try to do it all again next week!

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I’m looking forward to today being a “normal” day.

No idea why my brain is processing it as “normal”.

No idea what “normal” even looks like.

BUT…

Life has been of a rather hectic nature since Christmas before Christmas we got back from our “big trip”.

Hang on a minute.  Maybe “hectic” is “normal”????

Oh, I don’t know.

Anyway…

Plans for today include drafting sheep, spot-spraying…

Hang on a minute…

Since when did farming become “normal”????

*sigh*

Oh, I’m also planning to do some washing, sort through some of Singstar Princesses room (a never ending part of “normal” in this household) and whatever else I manage to fit in.

Yesterday we had Farmboys sister and kids here.

The day before we went into town to celebrate Singstar Princesses birthday with Farmboy’s family.

The weekend was hot and filled with stuff like recovering from a couple of insanely busy weeks, unpacking, catching up on washing etc etc etc.

So, yeah, today is kind of “normal”.

It feels nice.

I’m not sure if I ever got around to revealling what my “new toy” was that I posted about a while back (you remember the one Trailer Boy took photo’s of that weren’t real clear?).

Anyway, here it is:

I kind of need to use the phrase “my toy” rather loosely for 2 reasons:

1.  It’s not really “mine” - I have to share it with Farmboy.  Although he did finally decide to buy it with me in mind.

2.  It’s not really meant to be a “toy” - but it does make work fun! 

And the new job?

Helping Farmboy get the spot-spraying done.

Which seems like a strange job for someone so anti the use of chemicals.  *sigh*

BUT, it’s lots of fun burning around the paddock on the 4-wheeler.

I even did a couple of mono’s (accidentally mind you!!!).  LOL.

And I need to remember to put sunscreen on the backs of my hands.  I currently have what looks like red fingerless gloves.  The tops of my fingers were protected because of the way they wrap around the handle bars.  ROFLOL.  You live and learn.

Some of you already know the story of the day Farmboy and I met and how, in an innocent conversation, I informed him that I had no intention of marrying a farmer.  I have no idea what possessed me to share that with him but out it came in the course of conversation.  In fact, until that comment came out of my mouth, I didn’t even know I felt that way.  I guess I’d never met a “real” farmer before so there had been no reason to even consider how I felt about the whole issue.

He then proceeded to politely ask me why and to try and refute all my objections to being a farmers wife.

It’s one of those moments you might come across in a story where the author puts in an “if only they’d known” type comment. 

I can honestly say that neither of us had marriage to one another in mind at that moment.  After all, we’d only met just minutes before.  Our common link was Farmboys youngest brother.

Despite my intentions, we did indeed fall in love and I had to reconsider my intention to never marry a farmer.

It wasn’t an easy time in my life and involved a lot of tears and anguish.  Who’d have though falling in love could be so complicated????

I’d like to say that all of my fears were unfounded and that I took to farming life like a duck to water.  As it turns out, my fears were only the tip of the iceberg.  I had no idea about things like working hours and struggles to work with family.  arrgggh….

My biggest fears were based on media portrayal of farming life.  Lack of basic services, isolation and of course, the horrible media portrayal of the anguish farmers went through in the 80s when banks forced some of them from their land.

There have been numerous times over the years that I’ve wished I had stuck to my gut instinct to stay right away from farming.  I’ve never regretted marrying the man that Farmboy is.  His profession on the other hand….

To his credit, Farmboy has never thrust things upon me the way some husbands do their wives.  He doesn’t complain about my fuel usage if I go somewhere the way his father did to his mother.  He does occasionally ask for my help with different things but generally only as a last resort rather than a first resort like some other farmers.  He’s never made me feel inadequate about my lack of farming knowledge (not that that has stopped me from feeling inadequate).

We even did the whole “move to the farm” thing gradually, living in town for 4 years before venturing out onto the farm.

Many of you will be aware that farming has been going through some pretty tough times over the past years.  At the end of last year, Farmboys brother left the farm.  This was due to a combination of factors.

I have to admit, I was a little bit jealous.  How come he gets to go and we have to stay and continue to struggle?  Not just financially but emotionally.

At the end of the day, it’s our decision to stay.

I have to admit though, I’ve been harbouring a secret hope that while we’re away, something might come up that would cause us not to come back.  Or only to come back temporarily to sort things out before relocating up north somewhere.

Well, all that changed in the past week.

Why?

I tried tractor driving.

And I REALLY like it.

Really, REALLY like it!!!!

Who’d have thought.

Darn you tractor, now I WANT to come back from our trip.

It’s a conspiracy, I tell you!!!!

I guess I’m going to have to add this to my “101 Things I Thought I’d Never Do” list.

Our old Ford Tractor with the post hole driver on the back.  Farmboy actually has a sideline business putting in posts and sometimes erecting whole fences.  It has been an absolute god-send through the drought years and in more recent times, the money he has earnt fencing has been earmarked for our “big trip”.

Oh yeah, and that’s me standing next to it, pretending like I know what I’m doing. 

Here we are against the new fence.  The kids helped roll the cyclone out with the help of their quad bike.  Such hardship when you have to ride a motorbike isn’t it???? :)  Lleyton then stayed behind and rode along carrying the staples while Farmboy banged them into the posts.  I tried but it was going to take me all day to get 1 staple in!!!!

I’m not sure how well you can see it but this shot shows the old fenceline.  It was pretty much made up of iron droppers with the occasional concrete posts.  Parts of this one were completely fallen over, making it pretty useless for keeping sheep in or out.

And this shot shows a little bit of the new fence line with the wooden posts.  It should be a lot more sturdy now and will hopefully last 50 years or so.  I didn’t quite get a matching shot of the above with the new fence.

I’m writing this in Windows Live Writer as I’m having trouble loading photograph’s direct to the blog at the moment.  I’m not sure what size these images are going to end up being when this gets published – hopefully not too small.  Let’s see…

We decided to engage our children in some “slave labour” this week.  They’re actually pretty lucky and don’t have to do all that much around the farm (especially in comparison to kids of previous generations).

Farmboy’s actual motivation was to give the kids the opportunity to earn some spending money for our big trip.  When he talked to me about it, I pointed out that he doesn’t ask much of them and he has been taking a lot of time away from the farm for them of late.

They weren’t all the keen on the idea at first but when I got out there, Singstar Princess told me “this is more fun than I thought”.

Of course, Lleyton’s job was such a chore!!!!

LOL.  Farm kids have a great life don’t they?

It was really interesting watching the problem solving skills the kids were using when they had trouble cutting the old fence.

It was a beautiful day.  The kids had fun, learnt some new skills and got some fresh air.  Farmboy got his job done faster.  The kids will get some pocket money for the trip.  Everyone is happy. 

Mind you, I was the one who went back in the afternoon to help with banging in the new posts.  Wonder if I get pocket money too????  LOL

Today, the kids are helping Farmboy erect the cyclone on the new fence.

Image via Wikipedia

Take a bunch of fat cantankerous sheep and ask your wife to help you draft them.

Make sure your wife is overtired and brewing a cold so that she bursts into tears instantaneously without really being able to explain why.

Then call out instructions to her from where you’re standing, causing the sheep to run away from you just when she finally has them running the right way. Therefore, making her job harder and making her feel even more stupid than before.

When she bursts into tears, tell her she’s doing a good job so that she feels even worse about bursting into tears and then tell her not to worry about drafting the sheep because you have no idea that not completing the job is going to completely decimate what little self esteem she does have.

Add into the mix an overfed, cantankerous dog. Then part way through, blame the kids for the dog not working because you insist they feed the dog but complain they don’t do it “right”. Attacking her children is going to make her feel so much better about he whole situation - NOT!!!!

When said sheep are finally drafted, drop the bombshell that 2/3’s of them need to be re-drafted to make a 3rd group. Tell her that it doesn’t really matter if she doesn’t want to do them. Of course, now she’ll be leaving feeling like the job isn’t “finished” and we all know how women LOVE to leave a job unfinished.

When the job is finally over, tell her that she was much more patient than you would have been which probably made the job easier in the long run. She might even *just* believe you and it might save your marriage.

If you can come up with a cup of tea and some chocolate - she might even consider helping you out again. One day…

P.S.  For those of you who are concerned, Farmboy and I are fine.  While this is an account of what happened, it is meant to be funny - you’re allowed to laugh. 

It’s moments like these when I’m totally IN LOVE with where we live!!!

This time of year around here is a vitally important one. It’s the time that we need to harvest our crops. Timing is crucial because at the ripe stage is when our grain is at it’s most vulnerable. Once the crop is ripe, there is the potential to lose thousands of dollars in a day.

As a farmer’s wife you tend to become a “harvest widow” as all focus is turned toward the harvest and getting that crop off and delivered to the silos. When I was a young bride, I was stunned at the blinkers my husband seemed to wear during the busy seasons on the farm. Nothing existed in life other than the job at hand (whether that be seeding or harvest or shearing….). He’s a bit better these days and it helps that we’re not currently doing as many acres (and it’s been quite a few years now since we’ve had a big crop to reap due to low rainfall issues) but it’s still a busy and high pressure time of year.

The Header was reaping in the paddock next to the house a couple of days ago so I took some photographs to show you.

This Header doesn’t belong to us (no way we could afford it). We have an agreement with Farmboy’s father which allows us to make use of his header to reap our crop. One day we’ll have to buy our own header and it won’t be anywhere near as big or as flash as this one.

In some parts of the world (ie the US) these machines are referred to as Combine Harvesters. Here, we call them Headers.

Basically they cut off the top part of the crop (where the head is that contains the seed) and thresh out all the seed. The seed goes in the box (which is rather full in this picture) and the chaff gets blown out the back.

This is what the header looks like from the front:

I find these machines quite intimidating. Front on they look like a monster that’s just ready to eat me up (and I suspect I’d come off second best if I did end up being run over by one).

And here is the rather full Header pulling up to unload into the truck:

The Truck IS ours. This is only our second harvest with it and Farmboy is still in love. He’d been wanting to get a truck for a very long time and our old one really wasn’t up to the task of carting the grain. This one makes the job a lot easier and can cart more in a load (meaning we need to take less trips to the silo).

Harvest is currently the only time the boys work in together (Farmboy, his brother and his dad). It’s kind of a bittersweet occasion this year though as Farmboy’s brother has decided to leave farming so it’s their last season together.

It’s also a horrible time of year for me because I’m allergic to grain dust. I have no one to blame but myself really. I knew this before I married Farmboy. While we were “dating”, I climbed up onto the header they had at the time and ended up coming out in hives. Great idea to go ahead and marry a farmer knowing I’m so allergic to grain dust. At least it’s something treatable. But it does leave me feeling rather drained at this time of year as my body fights the allergens in my system.

Once upon a time it was also a fun time to watch the bank account as most of our year’s income would come in within the space of a few weeks. Of course, most of the money coming in goes out again to put the next crop in but it was still fun to watch. Not so much in the past years with poor yield’s and other factors affecting our income. Hopefully that fun will return again one day. Right now we are very thankful to have the crops that we do have. While they may not be fantastic, they’re a definite improvement on nothing.